P. J. O'Rourke
Recent articles by P. J. O'Rourke
I Sing of Fizzy Fluid Retention
The decline of spinsters? Smoke-free living? Drawing on a vast new statistical compendium, our commentator unearths, examines, and extrapolates the hidden challenges to America.
Mapping Innovation
To find the next great ideas, follow the tractors, tourists, and drinkers.
Two Cheers for Hypocrisy
As the Gallup Organization has discovered, the young are another country—and one day it's going to be ours.
The Mother Load
"Oh, my God—Southwest to Tampa with a thousand people!" A report on the new Airbus A380, the world's biggest passenger plane.
Masters of the Hunt
So the British have banned the killing of foxes and other wild mammals with the aid of dogs. Now what? A report from the sponge-wet moors of Barmy Britannia.
Freedom, Responsibility … and What?
Social Security reform—an explanation.
Incumbent-Protection Acts
Campaign-finance reform—an explanation.
Continental Divides
The Crescent of Crime, the Spousal Spine, the Divorce Coasts, the Righteous Region, and other sources of national greatness.
Redheaded Eskimo
The corporate tax bill—an explanation.
Pork With a Point
The highway bill—a translation.
Hail to the _____
An all-purpose post-election editorial, offered free to news organizations across the United States.
Foreign Leaders and Kerry
Do they really like him? Here's what they—or, anyway, people—tell me.
A $2.4 Trillion Figure of Speech
The federal budget—an explanation.
"To Hell With Lipitor!"
Medicare reform—an explanation.
Adult-Male-Elephant Diplomacy
Colin Powell talks about Iraq, the Cold War, his place in the Administration, and chilling "the ambitions of the evil"
A Conversation With Colin Powell
Colin Powell and P. J. O'Rourke discuss foreign policy, Volvos, Elvis, and more. The full transcript of an interview from the September 2004 Atlantic
I Agree With Me
When was the last time a conservative talk show changed a mind?
Sulfur Island
Everyone recognizes the image of the flag-raising on Iwo Jima. But what do you know about the place we were actually fighting for?
The Enthusiasts
A report from deep in the grass roots.
Speaking of the Candidates
Our correspondent looks much too closely at the current crop of stump speeches.
The Backside of War
How I saved Iraq's modern art, and other confessions. A noncombatant's diary.
The Veterans of Domestic Disorders Memorial
How to remember the not-quite-greatest-generation.
The Bill Show
There are selves too big for one person to contain. You cannot call them selfish. There is nothing -ish about such selves. They are the self, as it were, itself.
The Louse is in the House
A malady that does not speak its name.
Third Person Singular
Having an ear bent by Henry Adams, the prototype of the modern thinker.
No Apparent Motive
A chilling characteristic of politicians is that they're not in it for the money.
Anything Goes
For three decades the author searched fruitlessly for the perfect city. And then he found it.
Letter From Egypt
"There is a question," our correspondent writes, "that less-sophisticated Americans ask (and more-sophisticated Americans would like to): Why are people in the Middle East so crazy? Here, at the pyramids, was an answer from the earliest days of civilization: People have always been crazy."
The Success of Failure
We owe our economic development, our form of government, and even our physical existence to spectacular flops.
The Case for Vote Control
Campaign-finance reform is only a start.
How to Stuff a Wild Enron
Everyone blames too little regulation for the Enron mess, but maybe the culprit was too much.
Nobel Sentiments
Pious thoughts from wise fools.
After the Quagmire
Coping with closure; enduring the New Seriousness.
Coping Strategies
When Godzilla gets the willies.
Squishier than thou
Demonstrating against reality in London and Washington.
Zion's Vital Signs
A journey through modern Israel, where terrorism has been a fact of ordinary life for decades—and where ordinary life defeats terrorism.
What Auden Didn't Know
The things that stay in place.
Was Clinton Cool?
Talking about my generation. And talking and talking and talking.